History Bowdlerise / MythAndLegend

** While Perrault's Sleeping Beauty is tamer and does not contain any rape, it still contains a cannibalistic ogre mother-in-law in the second part of the story, who almost eats the princess and her children. Victorian writers frequently cut out the second half of Perrault's version and ended it at the wedding of the prince and princess. Compare [[http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault01.html Perrault's original, uncensored text]] to [[http://www.tonightsbedtimestory.com/the-sleeping-beauty-in-the-wood/ this Bowdlerized version from the Victorian era]]. Nowadays, Perrault's version is left uncensored, though the Brothers Grimm's version (which always ended at the wedding) is much more likely to be used in today's fairy tale collections.

* Every piece of ancient Anglo-Saxon literature we have falls to this. Seeing as the Anglo-Saxon's passed their stories on orally, they would have all disappeared if it was not for the Christian monks who wanted the region converted. The monks recorded the Anglo-Saxon stories but inserted heavy religous bias. Two particularly egregious examples of this are in ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'' and in the poem "The Seafarer". In the former, a hedonistic, bloodthirsty warrior with a God-complex is portrayed as a God fearing paladin of sorts. Meanwhile, the latter represents the last third of one of the most depressing ancient poems of all time (about a man's inability to find any contentment/his battle against his lot in life) as a praise song where the author revels in the glory of his creator. Never mind that Christian philosophy counteracts every major theme in these stories. Fate vs. free will. Materialism and living in the moment vs. spiritual rewards and living for an eternal future. Perhaps the monks thought that no-one else would notice.

* Every piece of ancient Anglo-Saxon literature we have falls to this. Seeing as the Anglo-Saxon's passed their stories on orally, they would have all disappeared if it was not for the Christian monks who wanted the region converted. The monks recorded the Anglo-Saxon stories but inserted heavy religous bias. Two particularly egregious examples of this are in ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'' and in the poem "The Seafarer". In the former, a hedonistic, bloodthirsty warrior with a God-complex is portrayed as a God fearing paladin of sorts. Meanwhile, the latter represents the last third of one of the most depressing ancient poems of all time (about a man's inability to find any contentment/his battle against his lot in life) as a praise song where the author revels in the glory of his creator. Never mind that Christian philosophy counteracts every major theme in these stories. Fate vs. free will. Materialism and living in the moment vs. spiritual rewards and living for an eternal future. Perhaps the monks thought that no-one else would notice.]

** Literature/TheFourGospels: Jesus would actually have been [[ShamefulStrip naked on the Cross]]; in most modern depictions, he's wearing a loincloth. Of course, the Bible [[BeamMeUpScotty never actually says whether he was naked or not]]; even the description of him [[ShamefulStrip being stripped]] (a key element of the Stations of the Cross) is not present in the text. And as the Roman soldiers play dice for his clothing, Jesus' ''undergarment'' is specifically and explicitly described.

** There are also children's Bibles, which tend to leave out or downplay the (many) parts involving violence [[InterplayOfSexAndViolence and/or]] sex. Case in point: David's adulterous affair with Bathsheba as recorded in 2nd Samuel, which led to the murder of her husband Uriah, has been changed to David simply wanting to marry Bathsheba, but seeing that he couldn't because she was married to Uriah, he had her husband killed in battle so as to have her for himself.

** Pretty much ''every'' piece of media that features the ancient Greek pantheon of gods will gloss over the fact that [[BrotherSisterIncest they're all siblings]] as not to {{Squick}} viewers out. Even the extremely gory ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' games glossed it over.
** Of course, the fact that most of the gods [[EveryoneIsBi were bi]] is ''always'' glossed over. Well, at least when it's [[DoubleStandard the men]], cuz, [[GirlOnGirlIsHot ya know]].... can't freak out all the straight men reading these tales of badass muscled gods by revealing they liked some man ass too, now can we? Naturally, ''God Of War'' glosses over it too, most likely for the previous reasons: they wouldn't want to risk losing sales from their target audience by having Guy-On-Guy action in it.
*** To be fair, homosexual relationships in Ancient Greece was only acceptable if it was pederasty - meaning there should be a huge age difference between two partners. So as if having like 13 years old boys with a grown men isn't going to {{Squick}} modern audiences enough.

* Just about every piece of ancient Anglo-Saxon literature we have falls to this. Seeing as the Anglo-Saxon's passed their stories on orally, they would have all disappeared if it was not for the Christian monks who wanted the region converted. The monks recorded the Anglo-Saxon stories but inserted heavy religous bias. Two particularly egregious examples of this are in ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'' and in the poem "The Seafarer". In the former, a hedonistic, bloodthirsty warrior with a God-complex is portrayed as a God fearing paladin of sorts. Meanwhile, the latter represents the last third of one of the most depressing ancient poems of all time (about a man's inability to find any contentment/his battle against his lot in life) as a praise song where the author revels in the glory of his creator. Never mind that Christian philosophy counteracts every major theme in these stories. Fate vs. free will. Materialism and living in the moment vs. spiritual rewards and living for an eternal future. Perhaps the monks thought that no-one else would notice.]

** People are fairly familiar with the story of how Set murdered Osiris to get his throne only to be thwarted by Osiris' son Horus, but most people don't know how it was done. Set attempted to prove his worthiness before the other gods by anally raping Horus, but Horus reached between his legs and caught Set's semen, throwing it into the Nile. Horus proceeded to masturbate into a salad, which Set ate without knowing about the special sauce. When it came time for Set to prove his dominance over Horus, the gods commanded Set's semen to speak. When the voice came from the Nile, the gods then commanded Horus' semen to speak, and imagine Set's state of mind when his stomach started talking to him. That is how Horus avenged his father upon Set. The Egyptians were totally perverted. One version says that they had intercrural (thigh) sex and Set (or Seth) wanted Horus to catch the semen. He did and Horus' mom saw the mess, cut off her son's hands and threw them into the river. She then put her son's semen into Set's salad and the rest you know.

* In [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdowsi Ferdowsi]]'s revision of Ancient Persian tales, the ''Literature/TheShahnameh'', every time the stunningly beautiful (and of course, virgin) daughter of a king falls in love with "Rostam" she begs him to marry her. In his bedroom, which she has sneaked into at midnight.

* In [[Myth/ArthurianLegend Arthurian stories]] geared toward children, several major elements of the legend tend to be left out. In particular, the details of major character's parentage get cut out. Uther uses Merlin's magic to seduce Igraine as her dead husband and fathers Arthur. Arthur seduces/is seduced by [[BrotherSisterIncest his half-sister Morgause]] and fathers Mordred. Elaine uses her magic to seduce Lancelot as Guinevere to father Galahad. They also tend to omit Arthur [[NiceJobBreakingItHerod going full-on Herod]] and slaughtering all the baby boys born on a certain May Day, as it really mucks up his status as TheGoodKing.

* In ''Literature/TheBible'', Jesus would actually have been [[ShamefulStrip naked on the Cross]]; in most modern depictions, he's wearing a loincloth. Of course, the Bible [[BeamMeUpScotty never actually says whether he was naked or not]]; even the description of him [[ShamefulStrip being stripped]] (a key element of the Stations of the Cross) is not present in the text. And as the Roman soldiers play dice for his clothing, Jesus' ''undergarment'' is specifically and explicitly described.

* Xenophanes, a pre-Socratic philosopher, took great issue with Hesiod's ''Literature/{{Theogony}}'' (the poem that synthesised most of the myths about the Greek gods with which we're familiar today) for its characterisation of the gods as violent, cheating, debauched psychopaths, claiming such qualities were inappropriate for gods.
* Creator/{{Plato}} in ''Literature/TheRepublic'' he explains how, in an ideal city, myths and epics would be edited to remove all mentions of gods and heroes doing bad or treacherous things, or even insulting each other, because gods are supposed to be unambiguously good (a very Platonic notion Homer would have had a hard time to comprehend) and that would be a bad example for the citizens. Knowing the nature of most Greek gods and heroes, he would have had a lot of work to say the least.
* While everyone knows the myth of Hera and Ixion; to put it short for those who don't know, Ixion attempted to seduce Hera, but get busted and punished in Tartarus. But the details of ''how'' Ixion came to seduce Hera is little knowledge to mainstream viewers and even Greek myth fans. Some sources state that Ixion try to seduce Hera by caressing her under the table when he was invited to dine with the gods.

* In [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdowsi Ferdowsi]]'s revision of Ancient Persian tales, the ''Literature/TheShahnameh'' everytime the stunningly beautiful (and of course, virgin) daughter of a king falls in love with "Rostam" she begs him to marry her. In his BEDROOM, which she has sneaked into at MIDNIGHT.

** Creator/{{Plato}} was the Ur-Bowdleriser; in ''Literature/TheRepublic'' he explains how, in an ideal city, myths and epics would be edited to remove all mentions of gods and heroes doing bad or treacherous things, or even insulting each other, because gods are supposed to be unambiguously good (a very Platonic notion Homer would have had a hard time to comprehend) and that would be a bad example for the citizens. Knowing the nature of most Greek gods and heroes, he would have had a lot of work to say the least.
** It goes back even further than Plato. Xenophanes, a pre-Socratic philosopher, took great issue with Hesiod's ''Literature/{{Theogony}}'' (the poem that synthesised most of the myths about the Greek gods with which we're familiar today) for its characterisation of the gods as violent, cheating, debauched psychopaths, claiming such qualities were inappropriate for gods.
** While everyone knows the myth of Hera and Ixion; to put it short for those who don't know, Ixion attempted to seduce Hera, but get busted and punished in Tartarus. But the details of ''how'' Ixion came to seduce Hera is little knowledge to mainstream viewers and even Greek myth fans. Some sources state that Ixion try to seduce Hera by caressing her under the table when he was invited to dine with the gods.

* Creator/{{Plato}} was the Ur-Bowdleriser; in ''Literature/TheRepublic'' he explains how, in an ideal city, myths and epics would be edited to remove all mentions of gods and heroes doing bad or treacherous things, or even insulting each other, because gods are supposed to be unambiguously good (a very Platonic notion Homer would have had a hard time to comprehend) and that would be a bad example for the citizens. Knowing the nature of most Greek gods and heroes, he would have had a lot of work to say the least.
* It goes back even further than Plato. Xenophanes, a pre-Socratic philosopher, took great issue with Hesiod's ''Literature/{{Theogony}}'' (the poem that synthesised most of the myths about the Greek gods with which we're familiar today) for its characterisation of the gods as violent, cheating, debauched psychopaths, claiming such qualities were inappropriate for gods.

* While everyone knows the myth of Hera and Ixion; to put it short for those who don't know, Ixion attempted to seduce Hera, but get busted and punished in Tartarus. But the details of ''how'' Ixion came to seduce Hera is little knowledge to mainstream viewers and even Greek myth fans. Some sources state that Ixion try to seduce Hera by caressing her under the table when he was invited to dine with the gods.

* Pretty much ''every'' piece of media that features the ancient Greek pantheon of gods will gloss over the fact that [[BrotherSisterIncest they're all siblings]] as not to {{Squick}} viewers out. Even the extremely gory ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' games glossed it over.
* Of course, the fact that most of the gods [[EveryoneIsBi were bi]] is ''always'' glossed over. Well, at least when it's [[DoubleStandard the men]], cuz, [[GirlOnGirlIsHot ya know]].... can't freak out all the straight men reading these tales of badass muscled gods by revealing they liked some man ass too, now can we? Naturally, ''God Of War'' glosses over it too, most likely for the previous reasons: they wouldn't want to risk losing sales from their target audience by having Guy-On-Guy action in it.
** To be fair, homosexual relationships in Ancient Greece was only acceptable if it was pederasty - meaning there should be a huge age difference between two partners. So as if having like 13 years old boys with a grown men isn't going to {{Squick}} modern audiences enough.
*** Greek authors objected to the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus (and later used it to criticize Alexander and Hephaestion) not because it was homosexual, but because they were both grown men, one of whom at least should have grown out of that phase.
* Likewise, the gods' blatant adulteries are toned down. Zeus and Hera love their son Hercules, according to [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon the Disney]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}} version]]. Now go and look up the original!
* They also tend to ignore Athena's back story. Particularly the part where her dad ''ate'' her mom while she was still pregnant with Athena, who was then born out of her dad's forehead.
* The averted with the Hades and Persephone myth commonly known as "the Rape of Persephone". While the story is called the "Rape of Persephone", by ancient Greece custom, abducting the bride from her home was part of the marriage ceremony, thus Hades legally married her. The original hyms and stories also make no mention of forced sex ever once happening to Persephone or even the implication. And marrying a niece kept family property in the family. On the plus side, they had the healthiest marriage of all the Gods that would require little additional censorship. However, it is also came from a different meaning of the word "rape". The Latin word raptio, often translated as rape, simply meant abduction of women. See [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rape_of_the_Sabine_Women here.]] So it would be more accurately called "The Abduction of Persephone."
* Most modern retellings of ''Theseus and the Minotaur'' fail to mention the fact that the Minotaur was the result of Minos' wife having sex with a bull. Or bring up the elaborate wooden cow "suit" that Daedalus built so they could perform the deed.
* Many modern variants say that Aphrodite was born from seafoam. They omit the fact that the foam was actually from the sperm and blood spilled when Cronus castrated his father. And that's not to mention ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'', where Hercules calls her "sister". Though some myths say that Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus and Dione, making them half-siblings.
* The Bowdlerisation of the gods' adulteries became a gag in the [[LostEpisode lost]] Creator/GilbertAndSullivan play ''Theatre/{{Thespis}}'', in which Daphne, playing Calliope, the Muse of Fame, uses a {{Bowdlerise}}d classical dictionary to prove that Apollo is her husband:

*** Greek authors objected to the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus (and later used it to criticize Alexander and Hephaestion)not because it was homosexual, but because they were both grown men, one of whom at least should have grown out of that phase.

* After the first edition of the Grimms' ''Children's and Household Tales'' (1812) had turned out a financial desaster, the brothers sanitized their fairy tales for the second (1819) and all later editions, in a successful effort to market them as family-friendly entertainment.

** Also, in the [[Literature/BookOfExodus Book of Joshua]], Rahab is occasionally said to be just an innkeeper (or the wife of one.) The mainstream view is that she was actually a prostitute or a brothel madam.